Greek Archaeology: A Survey of Recent Work

This survey of work in Greek archaeology since ca. 1990 examines how recent excavation and analysis has related to the questions that seemed most important in Greek archaeology in the 1980s. It focuses in particular on three themes. It argues that archaeological surface survey and the analysis of its findings need to be brought into closer dialogue with the burgeoning work on regionalism in the archeological record. It notes that questions of state formation have been replaced by consideration of the articulation of communities, whatever their political form or status, and draws attention to the need for more work on the way in which individuals and groups selected material for deposition in both sanctuary and cemetery and for the need for closer attention to urban forms. It celebrates the growth of work on the iconography of painted pottery and suggests that there remains scope for further work on objects and images in their chronological context and in the contexts of their use and deposition. In conclusion it draws attention to the absence from recent work of attempts to delineate the “big picture” and of the necessity for such attempts if the full range of the subject is going to be taught effectively to the next generation of students.